


The Scarab of Khepri

by pigeonking



Category: Doctor Who
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-17
Updated: 2017-03-17
Packaged: 2018-10-06 14:44:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10336890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pigeonking/pseuds/pigeonking
Summary: The 5th Doctor and his companion Tegan were always butting heads during their time in the TARDIS together. In this story I tried to have a bit of fun with that...





	

“Just once, Doctor I’d like you to take us somewhere where everyone we meet doesn’t end up dead because of some monster crawling out of the pipes. I wanted to travel with you because I thought it would be fun. Travel broadens the mind they say… Lord knows it’s the whole reason I became an air stewardess in the first place. What could be more mind broadening than travelling through time and space, I thought, but I seem to spend most of my time being terrified for my bloody life and I’m just sick of it, Doctor! I want to go somewhere fun!” Tegan Jovanka was in the middle of one of her lengthy tirades.

The focal point for her angry outburst, the young looking fair haired chap in the beige frock coat and cricketing attire, was busying himself around the six-sided console that dominated the control room of the TARDIS.

Another young man dressed in what appeared to be the blazer uniform of an Earth school boy was standing over in the corner observing the Doctor’s discomfort with something akin to barely concealed amusement.

“You know that you’re being completely unfair, Tegan! As you well know I don’t always have full control over where the TARDIS takes us and you also know how much it is paining me right now just to admit that. You can hardly blame me for what happens when we reach our destinations. It’s not as if I deliberately seek out trouble!” the Doctor argued defensively.

“Oh not much!” Tegan sneered sarcastically.

“Well if you think you can do any better why don’t you try picking the TARDIS’s next destination? While you’re at it let’s see if you would fare any better if you were the one making all the decisions instead of me!” the Doctor retorted angrily.

The pretty young Australian woman faltered slightly at the Doctor’s words.

“What are you saying?” she stammered with a note of uncertainty.

The Doctor stopped his work at the console and stood up straight, looking Tegan straight in the eye.

“Wherever or whenever we end up next you’re in charge. You are the Doctor. I’ll be your assistant for a change.” The Doctor clarified for her.

“Well, if I’m going to be the Doctor, who’re you going to be?” Tegan wondered.

“I had a nick name at the academy on Gallifrey, Theta Sigma. For the duration of this trip that’s what you can call me.” The Doctor decided.

For a moment Tegan seemed doubtful, but then a look of resolve and determination seemed to pass across her face. This was her chance to prove what she was made of, that she could really hack it in the Doctor’s world.

“Alright, Doctor. I accept.” Tegan said with a smile and she shook the Doctor by the hand to seal the deal.

The Doctor stepped away from the console.

“I’ve shown you enough about how the TARDIS works for you to be able to lay in your own co-ordinates. So… where do you want to take us… ‘Doctor’?”

Tegan eagerly stepped up to the console and began flicking switches, pulling levers and turning dials with great enthusiasm.

“I know just the place! Somewhere where there couldn’t possibly be any monsters!” she enthused.

The young man, who only slightly resembled an Earth school boy, sidled up to the Doctor, rubbing his hands nervously.

“Are you absolutely sure that this is wise, Doctor?” Turlough whispered into the Time Lord’s ear.

“It’s Theta Sigma now, Turlough, but you can call me Thete if you’d prefer? Of course I’m sure. I think this could be a tremendous learning experience for us all, don’t you agree?” the Doctor replied aloud.

“That all depends on what you want us to learn.” Turlough mused darkly as he watched the column in the centre of the console slowly grind to a halt.

The TARDIS had landed.

“Right, Tegan… I mean, ‘Doctor’, you know the procedure after a landing. Off you go!” the Doctor prompted encouragingly.

Tegan busied herself at the controls. She seemed pleased with herself and could barely contain the urge to jump up and down with excitement.

“We’re on Earth… exactly where I wanted us to be.” Her triumphant smile turned down to a frown.

“Oh, but the time is all wrong! The chronometer says we’ve arrived in 1898. I was aiming for the 1980s! Oh, rabbits!”

“You can always take off and try again.” Turlough suggested with a smirk, “After all… you’re the Doctor!”

“No! That’s not what the Doctor would do, so it’s not what I’m going to do either!” Tegan declared with an air of determination.

She switched on the scanner. The screen showed a large chamber filled with a vast array of Egyptian paraphernalia. There were hieroglyphics adorning the walls and a great stone sarcophagus bearing the face of a Pharaoh stood against one wall. Other various treasures were arranged around the chamber; gold and jewels collected in large golden bowls.

“Well at least we seem to be in the right place.” Tegan announced as they took in the view on the scanner

“Where were you trying to take us?” the Doctor wondered curiously.

“The British Museum, of course. No monsters there. Just a nice, calm pleasant afternoon, or morning… whatever the time it is out there, spent looking at the exhibits. Nothing could possibly go wrong here!” Tegan explained.

“I give you the opportunity to take us anywhere in the universe of time and space… and you pick a museum?” the Doctor sighed in exasperation “You could have gone to ancient Egypt and met a real Pharaoh, or seen the pyramids being built, but no… you want to go and see it in a museum!”

“Who’s in charge of the TARDIS, Thete?” Tegan asked pointedly.

The Doctor bowed his head in defeat.

“You are!” he replied.

“You got that right! And don’t you forget it!” Tegan scalded him, “Now it may not be the 1980s, but I’m sure the British Museum was a fun place to visit even in 1898.”

The Doctor ran an appraising gaze over Tegan’s attire; she was dressed in a short sleeved, above the knee flowery dress that showed off her shapely legs, and high heeled black stilettoes.

“You aren’t exactly dressed for the period, Tegan.” The Doctor began.

“Doctor!” Tegan corrected.

“Sorry, ‘Doctor’!” the Doctor conceded, “You go out into Victorian society dressed like that you’re liable to be arrested for public indecency.”

“I’ll go and change then.” Tegan replied with a smug smile and she disappeared off into the depths of the TARDIS.

About half an hour later Tegan returned dressed in a gorgeous flowing burgundy Victorian gown with a plunging bosom that had the Doctor and Turlough hastily averting their eyes to anywhere that wasn’t Tegan’s chest.

“Right…” the Doctor cleared his throat, somewhat embarrassed, “Can we go outside now, ‘Doctor’?”

“Admit it, Thete. You never looked this good!” Tegan smirked as she sauntered sexily over to the console and opened the TARDIS doors. She was secretly pleased at the reaction that she had provoked from both men.

Tegan disappeared outside and the Doctor and Turlough hastily followed.

 

Tegan, the Doctor and Turlough emerged from the TARDIS into the Egyptian chamber. Tegan pulled the TARDIS door closed.

Immediately the Doctor sensed something wasn’t quite right about this ‘museum exhibit’.

Now that they were outside they had a better view of the full chamber. As well as the sarcophagus and the treasure there were statues of Egyptian gods and ahead of them there was a passageway leading off to who knew where. There was also a passageway directly behind them as well.

“Are you sure this is the British Museum, ‘Doctor’?” the Doctor asked.

“Where else would you find Egyptian relics like this on display?” Tegan pointed out.

“Oh I don’t know,” the Doctor replied with more than a hint of sarcasm in his voice, “How about the burial chamber in Egypt where it was originally discovered?”

“That would account for all the sand beneath our feet.” Turlough conceded; the smirk on his face was very close to becoming his permanent new expression.

“Maybe they’re just trying to be extra authentic?” Tegan replied, but she didn’t really believe her explanation. “Oh wonderful! Not only did I get the time wrong, but the place as well! This isn’t the British Museum! We’re actually inside the tomb of some dead Pharaoh, aren’t we?”

“It would appear so.” The Doctor agreed. “But look on the bright side, Tegan. This place has been untouched for centuries. We are quite literally the first people to set foot in here since this Pharaoh was first interred, many hundreds of years ago. How many people can claim to that, eh?”

“All the same…” Tegan looked down at her gorgeous ensemble, “I feel a little overdressed now to say the least!”

While this exchange was taking place Turlough was listening intently to something else.

“Quiet a minute, you two.” He said, “Can you both hear that?”

“Hear what?” Tegan wondered.

“Shhh, listen!” Turlough insisted.

The three time travellers remained quiet and listened. Sure enough there was a loud tapping coming from behind the wall, just right of the first passageway they had seen. It was so loud they were surprised that they hadn’t heard it before.

“It sounds like someone’s trying to break through the wall into this chamber.” Tegan mused.

“I think that’s exactly what’s happening, Tegan. Oh well done, ‘Doctor’… you’ve brought us here just in time to see history being made as some archaeologist discovers this burial chamber for the very first time!” the Doctor declared enthusiastically.

“Oh whoop-de-doo! That’s great, Thete, but what are they going to say when they see us already standing in here?” Tegan pointed out.

“Ah, I hadn’t thought of that!” the Doctor conceded.

“Perhaps it would be best if we just slipped back into the TARDIS and left.” Turlough suggested, “Let history take its natural course?”

“Not bloody likely!” Tegan protested, “I’m not going anywhere. We’ll just tell them we found a different way in here that’s all. We found a secret passage, but it closed behind us and we got trapped in here and couldn’t get back out again. That would work!”

“Well, I’ll let you do all the talking then,” the Doctor replied, “They’re almost in!”

Sure enough, the wall of the chamber was cracking considerably and it would only take a couple more swings for them to smash their way in completely.

“Not too late to change your mind, you know.” Turlough insisted, wringing his hands nervously. “They might not be very pleased to see that we got here before them, whatever we tell them.”

“I rather think it might be too late for that.” The Doctor declared as the head of a sledgehammer came crashing through the wall and opened a sizeable gap.

An Egyptian looking face peered in through the hole. It looked like it belonged to a young man in his twenties. His eyes moved from side to side as he took in what he could see through the hole.

“It looks like this might be it, Professor Loret!” the man was saying excitedly, “The burial chamber of Amenhotep III! You’ve finally found it!”

Then his gaze fell upon the trio inside that should not have been there and his eyes widened in disbelief.

“Professor, it is impossible, but there is someone already in here that has beaten us to it!” the young man declared.

“What???” came a voice of rage in a thick French accent.

The young man’s face was pushed aside and replaced by that of an older man with grey whiskers, a balding head and sporting a monocle in his right eye.

“What is the meaning of this?? What are you doing in here??” Professor Victor Loret demanded.

He did not wait for an answer. His angry face disappeared from the hole and the sledgehammer could be heard smashing away at the wall beyond.

In three short strokes the angry archaeologist had broken through into the chamber completely and he stepped over the rubble, brandishing the sledgehammer as if he meant to do grievous bodily harm with it.

“What are you three doing in here??” the Frenchman repeated angrily.

“I knew we should have gotten out of here!” Turlough sighed to himself.

Tegan remembered that she was meant to be the one in charge and stepped forward with a confidence that she wasn’t sure that she felt.

“Hello, I’m the Doctor and these are my two friends, Thete and Turlough. There is a good explanation as to why we’re here, I can assure you.” She began apologetically.

“Well I would very much like to hear it!” Loret demanded.

“My friends and I are on holiday. We paid one of the locals to bring us here for some sightseeing. Unfortunately we got separated from him and we stumbled upon this secret passageway, completely by accident. It closed behind us and we had no choice but to follow the passage to see where it went and… well… it led us here!” Tegan finished her explanation, maintaining her apologetic tone throughout.

“We really had no intention of finding an Egyptian burial chamber. You’re quite welcome to take all the credit. After all…” the Doctor indicated the sledgehammer, “you did do all the hard work.”

Professor Loret looked down at the hammer in his hands and set it down, somewhat embarrassed.

“Yes, quite right. I did, didn’t I?” the Frenchman proclaimed proudly.

The young Egyptian man standing in the freshly made hole in the wall who had previously been wielding the hammer before the professor had forcibly taken over, rolled his eyes, but otherwise said nothing.

“But you say that you are a doctor. I did not know that there were any women that studied in the field of Egyptology!” Loret remarked.

“Are you forgetting the great work that Amelia Edwards did when she co-founded the Egypt Exploration Fund with Reginald Stuart Poole back in 1882?” the Doctor chastised the Frenchman good naturedly.

“Yes, of course I remember her! How could I forget? But you, Doctor…” he indicated Tegan as he spoke, “I have never heard of you!”

“There’s no reason that you should have. I am a student of history, Professor Loret. Knowledge is its own reward and I seek neither fame or recognition.” Tegan assured him.

“Well, I am most glad to hear it.” Loret replied, his initial anger now completely forgotten.

“Who is this pompous old wind bag?” Turlough asked the Doctor surreptitiously.

“From what I can gather this is Victor Loret. A famous French Egyptologist and archaeologist. It just so happens that he discovered the tomb of Amenhotep III in 1898. As accidental landings go I dare say that Tegan probably couldn’t have picked a better one.” The Doctor explained to him with quiet enthusiasm.

Turlough decided to borrow Tegan’s phrase from earlier. “Whoop-de-doo!”

“Well, now that you are here I suppose I will let you share the moment when I open the sarcophagus of Amenhotep III and we gaze upon his mummified features for the first time in over three thousand years.” Professor Loret was saying. He was making his way over to the aforementioned sarcophagus when his gaze fell upon the incongruous shape of the TARDIS standing over in the corner.

“What is that??” the Frenchman balked incredulously.

“Ah, I was wondering when you’d notice that.” The Doctor winced.

“We never saw it before in our lives before we came down here.” Tegan lied, “I wonder what it could be?”

Loret walked up to the police box and walked around it, scratching his whiskered chin thoughtfully.

“The writing on it is English.” He mused, “This can only mean one thing!”

“Oh? And what would that be?” the Doctor wondered.

“Some English pigs have been down here before us! They must have found the same way in here that you did and they brought this… this thing… with them!!!” Loret proclaimed angrily.

“And where are these English pigs now?” Turlough asked innocently.

Loret thought about that for a moment.

“Well, obviously they must have found their way out again!” the Frenchman blustered.

“And left their big blue box behind. How terribly inconsiderate of them!” the Doctor declared with mock indignation.

“Well don’t you see??” the Frenchman thundered, “The fact that they left this here means that they obviously intend to come back here!!”

“Of course! How… obvious.” Turlough agreed.

“Come along, Ahmed! We must complete our survey of the chamber and the sarcophagus before the English pigs return!!!” Loret declared with some urgency.

Ahmed, the young Egyptian, rolled his eyes again before entering the chamber along with five other Egyptian aides, all of them young men.

The Doctor and his companions stepped aside to allow the Professor and his aides to get at the sarcophagus.

“Finally we’re getting to the interesting part!” the Doctor muttered under his breath.

The face carved into the stone lid of the sarcophagus was that of a young handsome Pharaoh, wearing the traditional headdress usually associated with the old Egyptian kings and queens. There was also a line of hieroglyphs running down the centre of the lid, just beneath the carved folded arms of the Pharaoh.

Loret crouched down and peered at the hieroglyphs through his monocle.

Ahmed and his kinsmen hung back as far as they could without actually retreating. All of them had agreed to help the French archaeologist because he paid them well and any money that they could earn to feed their families was always welcome. However, the desecration of the resting place of one of their ancient kings was never a thing that they could take lightly. Even the least superstitious of them was wary of angering the old gods and disturbing the dead, but for now Loret’s wallet kept them loyal.

“What do the hieroglyphics say?” Tegan asked.

“There seems to be something here about the scarab-headed god Khepri. Well that can’t be right…” the Frenchman mused as he was reading.

“What can’t be right?” the Doctor wondered curiously.

“Well, according to this, this sarcophagus is not only the final resting place of Amenhotep III, but also of the god Khepri. Doom awaits anyone that opens the sarcophagus and disturbs the god’s sleep. It is of course utter nonsense!” Loret proclaimed dubiously.

“Perhaps it would be wise not to put it to the test, hmm?” the Doctor advised.

“How can there be a god in there AND the dead king?” Tegan wondered.

“Egyptian Pharaohs often believed themselves to be gods. Perhaps Amenhotep believed he was Khepri?” the Doctor ventured.

“That’s not what the inscription says!” Loret insisted, “It explicitly says that this is the resting place of Amenhotep AND Khepri. It does not say that Amenhotep is Khepri! We must open it and see!”

“You cannot!” Ahmed protested, “You heard what it said! If we open the sarcophagus then you will bring doom upon us all!”

“Come now, Ahmed! You are an intelligent young man! Surely you do not truly believe that?” Loret chided.

“I am sorry, Professor, but I have a family to provide for. It is not a risk I am willing to take.” The young Egyptian persisted imploringly.

“If you feel so strongly about it then I will allow you and your colleagues to leave, but I intend to stay here and open the sarcophagus and nothing you say will change that.” Loret declared with an air of finality.

Ahmed and the other Egyptians looked at each other with a measure of uncertainty. None of them wanted to abandon the Professor to an unknown fate, however, it was the unknown quality of that fate that played upon there subconscious fears. The fear of ‘what if?’. It was a risk that none of them could afford to take for the sake of their families. As one they turned and filed out of the burial chamber, back the way they had come. Only Ahmed paused in the opening that had been made in the wall and turned to glance back at Professor Loret.

“I am sorry, Professor. For your sake, I hope that we are wrong.” And with those words he was gone.

The Professor turned to the Doctor and his companions.

“You can all leave too, if you wish it. This is a journey that I am prepared to undertake alone if need be.” Loret told them.

“I wouldn’t dream of leaving for the world.” The Doctor declared enthusiastically.

“I’m staying.” Tegan agreed.

Turlough eyed the TARDIS and then glanced at the hole in the wall through which the Egyptians had exited. Then he looked at the Doctor; his gaze seemed to bore into the Doctor’s frock coat through to the pocket which contained his TARDIS key.

“It looks like I’ll be staying as well!” Turlough sighed reluctantly.

“Splendid!” the Doctor clapped his hands together gleefully. “Now, Professor Loret, I believe that you should have the honour of opening the sarcophagus.”

“But of course!” the Frenchman tutted as if this were obvious.

Loret squared up to the front of the stone coffin and seized upon the edges of the lid with both hands. He began to pull the lid sideways. At first it seemed that it would refuse to yield to the Professor’s pull, but slowly, inch by inch the lid began to move aside to gradually reveal the desiccated mummified corpse within. What had once been a proud Egyptian Pharaoh had now been reduced to a dusty, grey husk with withered features as dry as papyrus.

Amenhotep’s hands were folded across his chest and there seemed to be something clasped within his mummified grasp.

“What’s that I wonder?” the Doctor remarked curiously.

Professor Loret took a hold of the mysterious object with both hands and gently prised it free of Amenhotep’s dead fingers.

It was a stone scarab and on its back, what would have been the wing cases on a live scarab, there was inscribed more hieroglyphs.

“Death to all that disturb Khepri.” Loret read aloud.

“Erm, I wonder if it’s too late to put that back?” Turlough suddenly said, his voice tinged with fear.

Everyone looked around to where Turlough’s gaze was fixed. Emerging from the passageway behind the TARDIS there came a towering mummified figure lurching towards them, its powerful arms outstretched menacingly. The figure appeared to have no eyes, yet did not seem to need them as it continued its purposeful stride in their direction. There was an image of an eye emblazoned upon the creature’s barrel-like chest which the Doctor recognised as the Eye of Horus.

“Oh no, not again!” the Doctor muttered darkly.

“Look!” Tegan pointed towards the other passageway from which another identical mummy-creature was emerging.

The first mummy was now blocking their path to the TARDIS, if they didn’t move soon then things did not look good for them.

“Quick! Try putting the scarab back!” the Doctor suggested desperately.    

Loret turned and thrust the stone scarab towards the mummified Pharaoh. As he tried to place the artefact back into the mummy’s hands he fumbled it and the scarab flew from his fingers and tumbled to the ground. The scarab struck hard stone and cracked into two pieces. A sickly green glow spilled from the shattered remains.

“Get down, all of you!” the Doctor cried out in alarm.

Everyone threw themselves flat upon the ground. Just in time as ribbons of green lightning lanced into the air around them.

The two Osiran automatons were struck full on by the lethal jade tendrils. Their barrel chests exploded upon impact and the robots came crashing lifeless to the sandy ground.

As quickly as it had come the green lightning subsided.

The Doctor risked a look at the shattered scarab artefact, still bathed in its nauseating green glow. He did not like what he saw. Very slowly the Doctor got to his feet. Loret, Tegan and Turlough followed his example. They were all looking at what had emerged from the broken scarab.

Standing amid the remains of the artefact, radiating an unearthly aura there was a living, organic scarab beetle, black as onyx, but with a greenish hue reflected in the shine of its glistening carapace.

Its eyes alone glowed a deep malevolent red.

“The Osirans are an ancient alien race that visited Earth millennia ago. Their presence here inspired the entire Egyptian pantheon. They have a penchant for imprisoning any malcontents within their own kind that display a tendency towards death and destruction. Sutekh was one… I’m guessing Khepri is another… and we have just set him free!” the Doctor declared with an air of mortification.

“Yes! Free! Free at last!!! After three thousand years!” the scarab was saying; its mandibles and antennae swaying as it adjusted to its new surroundings.

“He’s still disoriented.” The Doctor observed, “We have to think of something fast before he can get a chance to return to his full power!”

“Don’t worry, Thete! I know exactly what to do with annoying insects!” Tegan proclaimed.

She lifted the skirts of her dress and strode up to the swaying scarab.

“Soon I will destroy you all!!!” Khepri declared with an evil cackle that sent spidery tendrils shivering down Tegan’s spine.

“Destroy this!” Tegan snarled and brought her foot down heavily on the malevolent insect.

Khepri squealed once as his body burst apart and gooey gelatinous innards spurted into the sand and onto Tegan’s shoe.

“Just this once everybody lives!” Tegan said with a triumphant smile. She examined the remains of Khepri that were stuck to the bottom of her shoe. “Everybody except for Khepri anyway.”

The Doctor looked on in stunned amazement.

“Not exactly how I would have handled it, but bravo, Tegan!” he proclaimed.

Tegan threw him a sideways look, a smile playing across her pretty face.

“I mean ‘Doctor’!” the Doctor corrected with a smile of his own.

“Well, that was… interesting to say the least. I don’t think I’ll be writing it up in my journal though.” Loret remarked.

“That’s probably very wise.” Turlough agreed.

“Khepri shouldn’t give you any more trouble. You can probably tell Ahmed that he can come back in now.” The Doctor said as he and his companions stepped towards the TARDIS.

“Can’t you tell him? I still have a lot of work to get done and I’m eager to get started. Remember the English pigs!” Loret replied.

“Oh I don’t think you need worry about them.” The Doctor smirked as he unlocked the TARDIS door and allowed Tegan and Turlough to enter.

“So it is your box!!!” Loret fumed. He looked as if he was about to fly into a rage.

“Good bye, Professor!” the Doctor stepped into the TARDIS and closed the door behind him.

“Get back here! I have not finished shouting at you yet!!! English pigs!!!!”

The Professor would have gone on, but then the air was split by the wailing and grinding of the TARDIS engines. Slowly the police box faded out of existence leaving a very stunned and angry French archaeologist behind.

 

**The End**


End file.
